For the Love of Wakanda: Community 101 (may include spoilers)

In the spirit of National Wakanda Day and as we celebrate the number one movie in the world, let’s take some time to discuss one of its many themes through the movie, Love of Community. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, shame. No, I’m just kidding, but I do have the side-eye of Okoye (Wakanda’s military general) for you. I will attempt to make this spoiler free as I possibly can. However I am encouraging discussion in the comments so you may want to go check it out now.

Love of Country

A main theme that was woven throughout ‘Black Panther’ was a love of country, and tradition over the individual self. It was pretty evident that the Wakandan people shared a strong love of for country. They protected its secrets for centuries, remained hidden, and sought out any issues that would potentially cause people to notice them. Drastically different from some of the other Marvel movies, there is less emphasis towards the story line of the love interest of the main character. Here, the main character, T’Challa is clearly infatuated with his love interest, Nakia, but ‘frozen’ for only a moment in the film. When directly asking her to remain as his queen, it is clear that her passion for helping her people (those outside of Wakanda mostly) is more important to her.
This brings up the differences between Okoye and Nakia’s characters. In keeping with the theme of the comics, they represent different ideologies. Okoye represents tradition, where Nakia represents a new way of thinking. However, they both demonstrate over and over again, that they will protect their people, and their King before any one.

The Breakdown:

So what does any of this have to do with relationships? Well, everything. Sometimes we talk so much about our significant others, but not of the relationships we have with other people at our job, with those on our street; our neighbors, or family and extended family. The people of Wakanda seemed to have this understanding that everyone in their village was to be respected and protected , and everyone had a role in doing that. Western society promotes independence, rather than interdependence. In a sense, Killmonger, Wakanda’s villain, represented a catalyst for mayhem but in an effort to be noticed, to be heard, and to be loved. He was this radical change that needed to happen to Wakanda in order for them to understand how much they have ignored the people outside. Even though his ways were violent, Killmonger’s love for Black People was the driving force for his actions. They were so powerful that T’Challa changed his own ideology – Was that a spoiler alert??? Sorry not sorry.
So what do we do when Black Panther leaves theaters? Do we forget the message that ‘we are one?’ What do we think our neighborhoods would be like if everyone on our street treated each other like they were the river tribes of Wakanda. I would like to think that here at We Buy Black we are doing our part. Promoting Black businesses, History and Arts well after Black History Month is over. It is SOO clear how we can come together to use our voices to lead change. And most importantly, we must continually show our youth how to lead the charge as well.

Don’t Freeze:

Do not mistake this with the idea that we need to save every Black person in America. But America, we have enormous work to do. If you are not part of the solution, you are still part of the problem. Let us build up our friends, and family. Let us protect our youth, and continue to encourage their love, their imagination and propel them for greatness. Wakanda is the idea of how great Africans, African Americans and all those of African descent could be without #colonizers in our way. Is there a reason that we cannot make this a reality? Let’s discuss other ways we can promote Black Love and positive Relationships. Maybe a reality show about Black women supporting each other and getting along *insert Okoye’s side-eye again*. I’ll be here to discuss more.]]>